Kava Forte

[Orange rabbit]

Has anyone ever tried or used Kava Forte for anxiety?  If so does it work?  The brand recommend to me was standard process kava forte.  
OR

[nickolyko]

Hey, I tried in the past with mixed results. Never make it to get relaxed by only Cava. Have in mind that it can be potential harmfull for the liver so liver function must be in good shape and dont exceed recommended dosage or mix it with other kind of herbs mate.

[Quadz_88]

Never tried Cava but I've heard some awesome things. Many people I know aswell have tried and said the exact same as Nickolyko. I hope you find what you desire and good luck.

[invisiblejungle]

I've never tired Kava Forte specifically, but the manufacturer (MediHerb) is a highly-regarded herbal company. They make sure to use the correct strain and parts of kava that are traditionally used. The cases of people getting liver damage from kava kava were due to companies using the whole plants rather than just the roots, as is done by the natives.

Some people say that good kava is like 5 mg diazepam, and I've heard of people using kava to help wean off benzos.

[Rafterman]

Hey Orange Rabbitt,
I am not sure about the particular formulation that you asked about, but I tried a rather potent Kava, imported from Hawaii, back in the 1990's and ran into some eye trouble. I understand that it a fairly common side effect if you use the more powerful stuff. Good news is that it all cleared up when I stopped using it.

[Pliko]

I wouldn't worry about liver damage when taking kava kava, the original paper which everyone used as evidence of hepatotoxicity used a group which was mainly made up of heavy drinkers or (other)drug users. In fact Germany has overturned the ban on Kava goods for this very reason, that media and governments over reacted about the supposed dangers of kava. German court overturns Kava ban

It is a shame over governments still preach that kava (and certain other things) are dangerous and that we need to be protected from them.

[Richardg8092]

I've never tired Kava Forte specifically, but the manufacturer (MediHerb) is a highly-regarded herbal company. They make sure to use the correct strain and parts of kava that are traditionally used. The cases of people getting liver damage from kava kava were due to companies using the whole plants rather than just the roots, as is done by the natives.

Some people say that good kava is like 5 mg diazepam, and I've heard of people using kava to help wean off benzos.

MediHerb is most definitely (internationally) held in highly esteem as a manufacturer of quality herbal products.
Two of their products come straight to mind - their Echinacea Forte and their Kava - both of which have both been used in respected research trials.

The Kava/liver damage issue was a complicated one - much of it had to do with the liquid Kava extracts of the time using organic solvents or containing VERY high levels of ethanol.  Back in the day, there were Kava liquid extracts floating around  in 90% ethanol. No wonder there were liver problems! MediHerb uses a water extraction process for their Kava products, which clearly avoids the alcohol/solvent problem altogether.
 
What makes me comfortable with their Kava pills is that they are standardized to contain 50mg (of the active) kavalactones per tablet.
That means you can be absolutely certain that there are no stronger or weaker batches - each tablet has exactly the same amount of actives as every other tablet.
Much of MediHerb's more interesting data (as I see it) is only available in their 'Practitioner Only' section - the equivalent of the 50 & 150 post sections in here -  which of course I have to  respect.  
However, a GOOgle Scolar search on ' Jerome Sarris Kava ' will be of interest to the folks who enjoy reading the research and the science.

I've used a LOT of Kava over the years, and wish I could vouch for the 5mg diazepam effect, but I can't.
Kava is an established anxiolytic sure, but it is very short acting. You might get a couple of hours out of it, but not diazepam's 20-100 hour half-life (drats drats drats!)

One word of warning: because Kava inhibits the enzyme that metabolizes Alps, concurrent usage of these two is potentially a very dangerous combination.
Please do not be tempted to think "Oh! Kava can give me more bang for my Alp buck." 
Think more along the lines of "How would I cope being thrust into a coma right here right now?"
If you absolutely insist on mixing Kava and a benzo, a small study by Herberg, K.W., 1996 study found NO interaction between Kava and Bromazepam.
But it's either one or the other, in my books.  Better to be safe than sorry - and lying unconscious on the floor with respiratory depression has never been a good look.

Kava's big advantages: quick, certain, short, non-drowsy, not (physically) addictive.
Disadvantages: You'll be tempted to always have it on hand to take the edge of any & everything  and that becomes an expensive path to go down...

Conflict Of Interest Declaration: None.  This is my opinion alone, based on using & prescribing the MediHerb product for over a decade.
I'm sure there's other great Kava products out there as well - always look for the ones standardized for Kavalactones.

[invisiblejungle]

I've never tired Kava Forte specifically, but the manufacturer (MediHerb) is a highly-regarded herbal company. They make sure to use the correct strain and parts of kava that are traditionally used. The cases of people getting liver damage from kava kava were due to companies using the whole plants rather than just the roots, as is done by the natives.

Some people say that good kava is like 5 mg diazepam, and I've heard of people using kava to help wean off benzos.

MediHerb is most definitely (internationally) held in highly esteem as a manufacturer of quality herbal products.
Two of their products come straight to mind - their Echinacea Forte and their Kava - both of which have both been used in respected research trials.

The Kava/liver damage issue was a complicated one - much of it had to do with the liquid Kava extracts of the time using organic solvents or containing VERY high levels of ethanol.  Back in the day, there were Kava liquid extracts floating around  in 90% ethanol. No wonder there were liver problems! MediHerb uses a water extraction process for their Kava products, which clearly avoids the alcohol/solvent problem altogether.
 
What makes me comfortable with their Kava pills is that they are standardized to contain 50mg (of the active) kavalactones per tablet.
That means you can be absolutely certain that there are no stronger or weaker batches - each tablet has exactly the same amount of actives as every other tablet.
Much of MediHerb's more interesting data (as I see it) is only available in their 'Practitioner Only' section - the equivalent of the 50 & 150 post sections in here -  which of course I have to  respect.  
However, a GOOgle Scolar search on ' Jerome Sarris Kava ' will be of interest to the folks who enjoy reading the research and the science.

I've used a LOT of Kava over the years, and wish I could vouch for the 5mg diazepam effect, but I can't.
Kava is an established anxiolytic sure, but it is very short acting. You might get a couple of hours out of it, but not diazepam's 20-100 hour half-life (drats drats drats!)

One word of warning: because Kava inhibits the enzyme that metabolizes Alps, concurrent usage of these two is potentially a very dangerous combination.
Please do not be tempted to think "Oh! Kava can give me more bang for my Alp buck." 
Think more along the lines of "How would I cope being thrust into a coma right here right now?"
If you absolutely insist on mixing Kava and a benzo, a small study by Herberg, K.W., 1996 study found NO interaction between Kava and Bromazepam.
But it's either one or the other, in my books.  Better to be safe than sorry - and lying unconscious on the floor with respiratory depression has never been a good look.

Kava's big advantages: quick, certain, short, non-drowsy, not (physically) addictive.
Disadvantages: You'll be tempted to always have it on hand to take the edge of any & everything  and that becomes an expensive path to go down...

Conflict Of Interest Declaration: None.  This is my opinion alone, based on using & prescribing the MediHerb product for over a decade.
I'm sure there's other great Kava products out there as well - always look for the ones standardized for Kavalactones.

Hi Richard, thank you for the excellent post. You say that this is based on your experience "using and prescribing" the MediHerb product. May I ask if you're an herbalist or other kind of health practitioner? Just curious, as herbalism is one of my favorite topics of study.

[coffeedude22]

Getting a high quality Kava product is so important. Anytime I've brought it on sale I've always been somewhat disappointed. Best to spend a little more and get a great product

[Richardg8092]

Hi Richard, thank you for the excellent post. You say that this is based on your experience "using and prescribing" the MediHerb product. May I ask if you're an herbalist or other kind of health practitioner? Just curious, as herbalism is one of my favorite topics of study.

Hi invisiblejungle, well this is the story.
In Australia, we're usually all lumped together as 'Naturopaths'.  The qualification is 'Bachelor Of Health Science - Naturopathy' regardless of whether we practice evidence based herbal medicine, nutritional medicine or homeopathy. 
This leads to a lot of eye-rolling among us, as practitioners want to believe that their chosen modality is the best / the original / the only truly effective / deepest acting one.   
I qualified in 1986 and practiced for a couple of decades - before deciding that clients were just too needy.
Good Grief, it was always about them them them - and never about me   
I moved out of private practice decades ago, but am still connected to the industry via my current NFP administrative role.

Herbal Medicine was my modality of choice, even though there wasn't a huge amount of scientific 'validation' back then, there was a long standing tradition. 
We had a pretty good idea of what worked and what didn't. 
Back then we'd say "St.Mary's Thistle works because it is a Liver herb" nowadays we say "St.Mary's Thistle works because of the silybin flavanolignans".

I'm more than happy to chat herbs with you at length (maybe via the Private Messages system in 25 posts time?) although I'm sure there are general herbal interest topics (like this Kava Forte one) which are considered perfectly suitable for the Open Forums.

If I may ask, invisiblejungle, do you have any favorite herbs?
Not meaning ones that you personally utilize, but rather the herbs that make you shake your head in disbelief and go "Wow! Amazing!"
I'll admit I've got that kind of thing going for both St.John's Wort and Kava.  
Any herb that gets the thumbs-up in the ultra-conservative Cochrane Library has got to be worth knowing about!

R